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Elective Home Education

Establish and maintain contact with families educating their children at home.

The aim of the Elective Home Education team is to establish and maintain contact with families educating their children at home and to offer parents appropriate advice and support in the best interests of their children. Guidance is also provided for headteachers on what to do if a parent of a child on their school roll opts to home educate.

If a parent of a child on a school roll opts to home educate they must confirm in writing, in the form of a dated letter or email to the headteacher, that they wish to remove their child’s name from the register because the child is to be educated other than at school. However, if a child is on a special school roll parents must seek approval from the Local Authority SEN first.

Headteachers' duty

If a parent of a child on a school roll opts to home educate they must confirm in writing, in the form of dated letter or email to the headteacher, that they wish to remove their child’s name from the register because the child is to be educated other than at school. However, if a child is on a special school roll parents must seek approval from the Local Authority Special Educational Needs team first.

The school must delete the child's name from their admissions register upon receipt of written notification from the parents that the pupil is receiving education otherwise than at school. However, schools should not wait for parents to give written notification that they are withdrawing their child from school before advising the Local Authority. Schools must make a return (giving the child's name, address and the ground upon which their name is to be deleted from the register) to the Local Authority as soon as the ground for deletion is met and no later than deleting the pupil's name from the register. They should also copy parents into the notice to the Local Authority.

If a child is registered at a school as a result of a school attendance order the parents must get the order revoked by the Local Authority on the grounds that arrangements have been made for the child to receive suitable education otherwise than at school, before the child can be deleted from the school's register and educated at home.

Schools must not take a pupil off roll until the parents’ letter is received. The leave code “EL” Elective Home Education must be used.

Please send a copy of the parents’ letter immediately to:

Elective Home Education Team
Education Inclusion Service
Oxfordshire County Council
2nd Floor
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JD